Nuclear INDIA

On the 2^nd of March at 12 noon, a major agreement took place between INDIA and the US that could have long lasting effects on the world politics. The deal is a de facto recognition of INDIA as Nuclear power.

Let me start off with some facts, INDIA at present produces much of its nuclear power from Uranium. And unfortunately INDIA has less than .5% percent of the total known reserves of uranium. This means that it has to fetch much of this element from the outside world. To get access to this material INDIA should have signed the NPT (INDIA along with Pakistan and Israel are the only 3 countries who are outside this treaty). Now what this deal will ensure that INDIA will get access to his element without much problems, except that it will have to send back the spent fuel (which is otherwise used to produce weapons) back to the source country.

INDIA generates about 3% of its total energy from nuclear power stations – that’s around 3300MW. By 2050, it is planned to generate 25-30% of its power from nuclear power that’s around 100000-150000MW. It would certainly be an almost impossible task for INDIA to do this all on her own.

INDIA due to its lack of Uranium resources had started working on a new technology called Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR). INDIA has 1/3^rd of the world Thorium resources. Though this material can not be used directly to generate energy, it can be used after it is processed in the breeder reactors. INDIA is way ahead of the world in the Breeder Reactors and expectedly it has not been made a part of the deal. Also the amount of plutonium that can be generated by FBR is much larger.

INDIA is way behind the world in other nuclear technologies. It still does not have the capabilities to built 1000MW reactors (only the 5 countries have this knowledge). What this deal will ensure is that INDIA will get access to these technologies.

We cant be dependent on Oil for all our energy deals. Ours is a rapidly growing economy. Oil will only get costly from here and we can’t always trust the countries who supply them. Iran is one such example. Though the previous regime had reached an agreement on selling the oil, the present one is sitting idle on the deal. Annually around 25-30 billion dollars is spent by Indians to import oil. And this bill is growing rapidly.

Also if this deal really comes through, its not mandatory for INDIA to buy the technology or the fuel only from US, it can do so from France, UK or Russia.

INDIA has been a responsible nuclear state. It has developed much of its technologies independently, with little or no help from others. It has an impeccable record of non proliferation. Pakistan has been the source of most of nuclear proliferation supplying the technology to countries from N Korea to Iran. Israel too has been secretly helping South Africa in their nuclear quest.

Non of the world powers are opposing this deal (except for China which is very cautiously looking at the deal for obvious reasons). It just shows the confidence the world has in the INDIA System. IAEA too has welcomed the deal.

The deal I feel will certainly change the status quo of INDIA in the international arena. It will help her produce clean power for her giant economy. It is a recognition of her clean records. Certainly there will be people in INDIA who will make noises about the deal, the left parties ( when have they not made noise anyways), the SP ( Mulayam after attending the anti Bush and anti deal rallies quietly went for the dinner hosted for Mr Bush ), etc, for some short term political gains and to tell the nation that they are still alive. It should also be noted that it was the BJP ( especially Brijesh Mishra) which actually started negotiations on the deal and like a mature party have welcomed the deal and supported the government on the issue.